A SOLDIER based at Dalton Barracks in Abingdon has been decorated for saving a comrade when he was caught in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

Despite being under enemy fire, Captain Michael Lowry, 31, left, treated Private Alex Stringer after he was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Helmand Province.

Pte Stringer was engulfed in flames and lost his legs and an arm in the blast, but Capt Lowry stemmed the blood and got him on board a helicopter to be airlifted to the Camp Bastion field hospital. He will receive a Mention in Despatches.

The incident, captured in the BBC1 two-part documentary Bomb Squad, took place when Capt Lowry, of the Royal Logistic Corps, was conducting a search for IEDs with his team. Capt Lowry, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, said everyone involved in the incident deserved an award, and added the incident was “pretty crazy”.

The officer’s citation said Capt Lowry was a “shining example to his men”.